Adrián has seen in graffiti an open door for his creativity. That he doesn't have limbs, don't stop this 15-year-old teenager from indulging in what he likes: picking up the spray can or the digital and graphite pen to give free rein to his inventiveness. “When I go on a trip, I look at graffiti; they catch my eye”, says 'Dius', his alias in his other world. Long live Corral de Almaguer, a small Toledo town of 5.500 inhabitants. "What do you want me to say! To put it that way, the world looks like shit from a wheelchair, ”he says over the phone, with a half smile, when you ask him about his situation. "I would like to be in other circumstances, but you have to face it like this," he adds. Adrián has a recognized degree of disability of 97 percent. At the age of two, he lost his limbs due to meningitis that led to a fatal generalized blood infection. "Due to sepsis, they amputated his legs up to the thighs and his arms up to the elbows," recalls his mother, Rosa. She summarizes in a few words the "fight" of the family with the administrations to obtain economic aid. “For example, we had to fight a lot to get full financing for Adrián's prostheses,” he recalls. His son is in second year of ESO in his town, at the La Salle school. But "he is terrible" in studies, according to his mother, who punishes him by not using the mobile phone when he fails to fulfill his obligations. And it is here where the germ of 'Dius''s love for drawing and also for graffiti is found. “When you take away his cell phone, he paints even more because it is what keeps him going,” admits his mother. For this reason, so that he could continue drawing, they bought him a digital tablet in July and, at the beginning of this year, 'Dius' signed up for the La Mancha School of Urban Art, which he goes to on Friday afternoons after swimming. "I'm good at both, but I like graffiti more," smiles the teenager. “He knows how to express it in his own way” The La Mancha creative center is located in Quintanar de la Orden, twenty minutes by car from Corral de Almaguer, and his teachers emphasize Adrián's daring character. "He's a very keen kid to 'up front', very observant as a graffiti artist," says Franz Campoy. He is the director and teacher of the school, who is temporarily living in Łódź (Poland), the European capital of urban art, learning from the great murals and also to further his doctoral studies in Fine Arts. “I had never known a case like that of 'Dius'. It was a novelty, not because of his physical conditions, but because of his interest in wanting to learn and, above all, in painting”, highlights the teacher, who helped the boy find his alias. He treated Adrián for a month and remembers how his father, Miguel Ángel, told him about his son's interest in graffiti every time he went to Quintanar de la Orden and about meeting Franz, who also signs murals and works of urban art in this population of La Mancha. “'Dius' has a very good capacity for observation and a sixth critical and artistic sense”, emphasizes his teacher. “The good thing is that he knows how to express it in his own way, especially on a tablet because he can move on a digital surface with special agility; and he tries to take it to the wall as well, ”she emphasizes. 'Dius', in front of the mural where he practices at home – Courtesy photo Adrián is learning the spray technique along with his five classmates. Franz says that the boy has "very difficult to move along the wall" and can only paint in the area in front of him. However, 'Dius' knows his stumps very well and knows how to hold the spray to use it, "something that working on his tablet has helped him with," said the school director. To better use the spray, his teacher Álex Simón devised a contraption with a stick and a plunger that is hooked to a brush. “If this suits you to adapt to your stump, maybe I can paint something better”, believes Simón. "I'm going to try it later," promises Adrián, who opened an Instagram account very recently. The mural made in Quintanar de la Orden by 'Dius' and his five companions at the La Mancha School of Urban Art. Adrián's nickname can be seen on the wall, to the right – Arturo Rojo At the moment, the boy manages to hold the bottle in one way and place the mouthpiece in such a way that it allows him to activate the button. “You can't ask for finesse now because, if it's already complicated with your fingers, imagine without them”, declared the teacher. "I like to make letters and I don't master spray very much," admits the boy, very grateful to his parents. “If this report encourages our dear Dius to continue with graffiti, he is going to leave many impressed, no, the following. He is a motivation and inspiration for anyone.
